Topic of the practice

Climate Change Risk Mitigation

Good Practice Information

In February 2009 on the initiative of the Governor of the Bank of Greece a committee of distinguished scientists was set up with the task of preparing a study on climate change and its potential impacts on Greece. In June 2011 the findings of the study were presented, focusing on the cost of climate change for the Greek economy, the cost of implementing adaptation measures and the cost of moving to a low emissions economy. The study made climate change projections for the 13 regions into which Greece was divided on the basis of climatic and geographic criteria. A database and model simulations were also developed for the main scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions.
Main findings of the study include: 1.) The study points out the urgent need for work to begin on the formulation of a long-term strategy for adaptation measures. 2.) Long-term energy planning is the core of climate change mitigation policy. 3.) The transition to an economy of low greenhouse gas emissions concerns all sectors of economic activity, consumption and energy production. 4.) New technologies, new activities, new standards for buildings and means of transportation, as well as the reorganisation of production activities need to become the focus of the new growth effort aiming at a low-emissions economy and protection against possible climate change-induced damage.
The study also lead to a number or specific recommendations for the region of Epirus.
The social dimensions of climate change impact deserve to be explored further, especiall its impacts on poverty and migration, since the effects of climate change will be most strongly felt by the lower income population groups

Evidence of success

For the first time the study brought together teams from different scientific disciplines. The teams included physicists of the atmosphere, climatologists and geophysicists, experts in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as experts on water resources, tourism, the built environment and energy, economists and sociologists. In that way the study gives an overall view of the impacts of climate change, while so far studies used to approach the impacts of climate change exclusively on specific sectors.

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